The cobbled section which featured in the road race and caused some problems with drink bottles flying out of their cages, was left out of the circuit, the riders allowed to use the asphalt road alongside the section – which was probably the correct call with the rain and strong winds.
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“It was a blur”, she recalled later. “Now it’s up to you what color you want to bring home”.
Armstrong’s first thought was, “What?” Then she retired again, only to return again in the spring of 2015.
Armstrong said that she was inspired by her American team-mate Mara Abbott’s near miss in the road race – when she was heading for gold only to be caught 150 metres from the line, and had to settle for fourth.
It is fair to say Olympic stories do not get any more inspirational than Armstrong’s one giant leap for womankind. Averaging almost 25 miles per hour, she won Wednesday’s 18½-mile race in 44 minutes, 26.42 seconds, a full 5.55 seconds faster than Russia’s Olga Zabelinskaya, who took silver.
With her time of 44 minutes, 26.42 seconds, she became the first female Olympic cyclist to win gold medals at three games, and the first cyclist to win at the same road event at three different Olympic Games.
It turned out to be a crucial moment, as she eventually finished fourth, 22 seconds behind the victor – nearly the exact same time the whole hick-up took.
With her strong performance in the road race, everyone was excited to see whether she could take a third Olympic time trial title and deliver the U.S. an Olympic gold medal after Mara Abbott (Wiggle-High5, US) put in a heartbreaking performance in the road race, finishing fourth.
Little wonder Armstrong – no relation to Lance incidentally – burst into tears as the mum clutched five-year-old Lucas with a nosebleed and tears tumbling down her face at the finishing line in saturated conditions.
“My coach said to me, OK, you decide what colour medal you want to have”. And, at age 43, she’s the oldest woman on the team by seven years. But he did ask me, ‘Momma, why are you crying? “That’s what we do, we cry when we’re happy!” “I feel that I need an opener”, she said.
She’s the second American female Olympian to win three consecutive gold medals in an individual sport. It’s not a beauty contest out here today, ‘ ” she said. “It provides me balance and it keeps me on track and it keeps me super-focused”. “I love challenges in life”.
“To leave the sport at the end of this season with the gold medal is just a flawless way to end my career”.
“We prove this with the biological and everything, and I didn’t have time to go ahead with the (CAS) because I had to race, and if I don’t race I don’t get to go to the Olympics”.
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Armstrong said age came into play, too, noting it took two full days of cold baths, massage and recovery following Sunday’s road race to be ready for the time trial. Controversy ensued. Carmen Small, the 2016 national time trial champion, believed that she deserved the right to compete in Rio.
Armstrong woke up early Wednesday morning to use the restroom and peeked out the window.
Rain and heavy winds made an already hard track extremely challenging. “Against this field, and on such a hard course, we had doubts, but good doubts”. But it’s the time trials, where cyclists race solo instead of in a bunch, where she’s found the most success.
So the veteran set out on a mission to prove to herself and everyone else that she could still ride with the best in the world. The support she has given me since her race is phenomenal.
Now Boise is celebrating her win. It’s given me great pleasure to represent the team. “I haven’t experienced this in all of my years”.
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Lucas, who will be 6 in September, had joined her on the medals podium four years ago in London but didn’t grasp the magnitude of her accomplishment.
